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Christ with Joseph of Arimathea
Also known as: The Dead Christ with Joseph of Arimathea
About the Artwork
After the Crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathea obtained permission to bury Christ’s body in Joseph’s own tomb. Aside from an amorphous, cloudy sky, Savoldo eliminated the background entirely and reduced the narrative to two monumental figures, brought to the front of the picture plane. These qualities surely had a great impact on Caravaggio, who initially trained in Northern Italy, where Savoldo spent his career. This work originally hung over a large altarpiece, which explains the unusual perspective, the panel’s horizontal shape, and the figures’ position above the viewer.
Provenance
c. 1525: Monastery of San Domenico, Pesaro By 1904: Princes of Liechtenstein, Vienna 1952: Frederick Mont (1894–1994), New York, negotiated sale from Liechtenstein to the Cleveland Museum of Art
Exhibition history
In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 7, 1958). Savoldo conservation treatment and loan. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (November 1, 2009-May 18, 2012).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo (Italian, c. 1480–after 1548)
- Date
- c. 1525
- Medium
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- Framed: 134.6 x 221 x 12.7 cm (53 x 87 x 5 in.); Unframed: 105 x 191.8 cm (41 5/16 x 75 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Gift of the Hanna Fund
- Accession no.
- 1952.512
More by Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009587
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